Blair falls into line with Bush view on global warming - Independent on Sunday (

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Blair falls into line with Bush view on global warming -

Independent on Sunday (UK)

Mon, 26 Sep 2005 10:21:18 +0100

 

 

 

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/article314991.ece

 

Blair falls into line with Bush view on global warming

By Geoffrey Lean and Christopher Silvester

 

 

Published: 25 September 2005

 

Blair falls into line with Bush view on global warming Tony Blair has

undermined the agreement he masterminded at the Gleneagles Summit

 

Tony Blair has admitted that he is changing his views on combating

global warming to mirror those of President Bush - and oppose

negotiating international treaties such as the Kyoto Protocol.

 

His admission, which has outraged environmentalists on both sides of

the Atlantic, flies in the face of his promises made in the past two

years and undermines the agreement he masterminded at this summer's

Gleneagles Summit. And it endangers talks that opened in Ottawa this

weekend on a new treaty to combat climate change.

 

The U-turn will inevitably bring accusations that he has, once again,

sold out to Mr Bush, just at the time that the US President is coming

under unprecedented pressure to change his policy in the wake of

hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Last week the UK Government's chief

scientific advisor, Sir David King, said that global warming might

have increased their severity.

 

Over the past two years Mr Blair has consistently claimed global

leadership in tackling what he described as " long term, the single

most important issue we face as a global community " and has stressed

that it " can only properly be addressed through international

agreements " . President Bush repeatedly expressed anger at his position.

 

Sharing a platform with the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice,

in New York this month, Mr Blair confessed: " Probably I'm changing my

thinking about this " , adding that he hoped the world's nations would

" not negotiate international treaties " .

 

This contradicts his assertion in a speech a year ago - which drew a

private rebuke from the Bush administration - that " a problem that is

global in cause and scope can only be fully addressed through

international agreement " .

 

It also denies what his ministers claimed to be his main achievement

on global warming at Gleneagles. He had succeeded in getting all the

leaders except Mr Bush to sign up to negotiating a successor to the

Kyoto treaty, and in arranging a meeting between the G8 and leading

developing countries to discuss it.

 

But instead of endorsing agreed limits on the pollution that causes

climate change, Mr Blair told this month's meeting at the Clinton

Global Initiative that he was putting his faith in " developing science

and technology " - precisely Mr Bush's position.

 

He justified his change of heart by saying that countries would not

negotiate environmental treaties that cut their growth or consumption

- another of the President's main contentions. But in another speech

last April he said it was " quite false " to suppose that environmental

protection would inhibit growth.

 

Last night, Tony Juniper, executive director of Friends of the Earth,

called the Prime Minister's volte-face " unbelievable " : " Having failed

to practise what he preaches, he is now changing his preaching to

match his practice. "

Blair falls into line with Bush view on global warming Tony Blair has

undermined the agreement he masterminded at the Gleneagles Summit

 

Tony Blair has admitted that he is changing his views on combating

global warming to mirror those of President Bush - and oppose

negotiating international treaties such as the Kyoto Protocol.

 

His admission, which has outraged environmentalists on both sides of

the Atlantic, flies in the face of his promises made in the past two

years and undermines the agreement he masterminded at this summer's

Gleneagles Summit. And it endangers talks that opened in Ottawa this

weekend on a new treaty to combat climate change.

 

The U-turn will inevitably bring accusations that he has, once again,

sold out to Mr Bush, just at the time that the US President is coming

under unprecedented pressure to change his policy in the wake of

hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Last week the UK Government's chief

scientific advisor, Sir David King, said that global warming might

have increased their severity.

 

Over the past two years Mr Blair has consistently claimed global

leadership in tackling what he described as " long term, the single

most important issue we face as a global community " and has stressed

that it " can only properly be addressed through international

agreements " . President Bush repeatedly expressed anger at his position.

 

Sharing a platform with the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice,

in New York this month, Mr Blair confessed: " Probably I'm changing my

thinking about this " , adding that he hoped the world's nations would

" not negotiate international treaties " .

 

This contradicts his assertion in a speech a year ago - which drew a

private rebuke from the Bush administration - that " a problem that is

global in cause and scope can only be fully addressed through

international agreement " .

 

It also denies what his ministers claimed to be his main achievement

on global warming at Gleneagles. He had succeeded in getting all the

leaders except Mr Bush to sign up to negotiating a successor to the

Kyoto treaty, and in arranging a meeting between the G8 and leading

developing countries to discuss it.

 

But instead of endorsing agreed limits on the pollution that causes

climate change, Mr Blair told this month's meeting at the Clinton

Global Initiative that he was putting his faith in " developing science

and technology " - precisely Mr Bush's position.

 

He justified his change of heart by saying that countries would not

negotiate environmental treaties that cut their growth or consumption

- another of the President's main contentions. But in another speech

last April he said it was " quite false " to suppose that environmental

protection would inhibit growth.

 

Last night, Tony Juniper, executive director of Friends of the Earth,

called the Prime Minister's volte-face " unbelievable " : " Having failed

to practise what he preaches, he is now changing his preaching to

match his practice. "

 

http://comment.independent.co.uk/leading_articles/article314892.ece

Leading article: The betrayal of Kyoto

Published: 25 September 2005

 

Tony Blair's cosying-up to George Bush over global warming, reneging

on his determination to push for a new treaty to combat global warming

when the Kyoto Protocol comes to an end, is both scandalous and

shameful. It is scandalous because it means that the leader who has

assiduously set himself up over the past two years as the man to

achieve a breakthrough on tackling climate change could now torpedo

the opportunity he created at the Gleneagles summit.

 

There, by threatening to isolate the US President, he achieved genuine

progress in setting up a framework to negotiate a new agreement - a

process that starts when environment ministers meet in Ottawa this

weekend. His surprising willingness to bark at, if not bite, the

" toxic Texan " incurred Mr Bush's anger; now the poodle has been

brought to heel.

 

 

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